USDE: So Much Coverage, So Little Real News
Last night, suspiciously close to the official 11 pm release time for the new RttT backgrounders, the mainstream papers and EdWeek all posted pieces:
Teachers could earn more under plan USAT
Obama to Unveil Guidelines for New Fund WSJ
States to compete for extra stimulus dollars AP
'Race to Top' Guidelines Stress Use of Data EdWeek
CA told to use scores in evaluating teachers LA Times
Administration Takes Aim at Laws on Teachers NYT
The Post played its cards smart and insisted on 20 minutes of face time with the POTUS (President Obama Discusses New 'Race to the Top' Program) in exchange for their story (Obama Uses Funding to Pressure for Change). ABC News comes off worst, not realizing that Duncan talked to pretty much everyone (EXCLUSIVE).
But still, most of these stories are heavy on what the regs hope to accomplish and thin on whether they're going to take effect or make much of a difference in the real world.
No surprise -- what's been released are only draft regs and no one's had much chance to review them yet. Hardly worth a story, really. What's absent, however, is much about just how small the RttT's $5B is, just how small the stimulus is looking to states right now, and just how unlikely it is that, at the end of the day, most states that want them won't get RttT funds. Seriously. The education press corps is following the Obama narrative pretty damn closely these days, even as the national press corps is asking increasingly skeptical questions on other issues. I can't do much about it, but I can point it out.
Okay. I can think of that. We have a press call with Duncan in an hour.
Posted by: Kimmy | July 24, 2009 at 10:35 AM